From a British city reimagining its industrial past and a laid-back Kenyan island free of cars to the best place in North America to see the total solar eclipse, our 25 picks for where to go next year have several traits in common: Each is an awe-inspiring, joy-inducing destination where human connection and creativity define the travel experience. These 25 places (listed in no particular order) offer ample opportunities for conscientious, sustainable exploration—exactly what AFAR’s travelers who care are seeking right now. Cheers to a year of getting out there.—The EditorsFiji‘s marine life is famously beautiful: a colorful show of turtles, rays, and sharks swirling amid sun-dappled shades of green and blue. The main stage for this dazzling performance is its array of coral reefs—fragile ecosystems in which the symbiotic relationship between plants and fish plays out daily, their delicate dance a microcosm of our ever more stressed planet.

Given this aquatic world’s wonders, it’s no surprise that the hotels on the archipelago’s 333 islands are at the forefront of marine conservation efforts. In the south, Kokomo Private Island works with local nonprofit Manta Project Fiji to identify, tag, and protect manta rays in the surrounding aquamarine waters. The resort also shows visitors how to swim and snorkel among them peacefully. Six Senses Fiji, meanwhile, planted 600 mangrove saplings in 2022 to provide shelter for marine life, part of a larger ecological restoration project that also extends protection to several terrestrial species, including the Pacific boa snake and the critically endangered Fijian crested iguana.

Several resorts have in-house marine biologists. At Vomo Island resort, Laisenia Rokoua oversees initiatives that include coral planting, species identification, and coastal cleanups. On the characteristically dreamy private island, children can make coral “cookies” out of concrete and pieces of living coral that are then planted in the reef. The hotel has recently constructed little “fish houses” to protect the reef’s smaller finned residents.